Why are Bangladeshis called Indians in abroad?

iamgr8 said:

My maternal uncle lives in Kuwait. Its middle eastern country. Lot of Bangladeshis work there. My uncle says he is always called by others 'Bangali' or 'Indian'. Never being called 'Bangladeshi'. He requests them to call him Bangladeshi but again they call him Indian. Uncle gave up and said, okay, call me Bangali.

I think almost all foreigners treat us as Indian untill we correct them to call us Bangladeshi. There are millions of Bangladeshis working in abroad but its really frustrating despite being Bangladeshi we are being treated as another nationality, Indian everywhere.

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It's very simple. The word Bangladeshi is multisyllable (Bang la de shi) whereas Hindi - Arabic for Indian and Bingaali (Bangali in Arabic) are easier to pronounce. Also, the people of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh on a general level look similar and are assimilated into one - Hindi or Indian. Still, we have come a long away in being recognized as a known country because even 25 years ago, people were not sure of its existence.

On a side note, we can't always distinguish Orientals so the common terminology among Bangladeshis is Chinku even if they are Vietnamese, Korean or Japanese. I can kinda distinguish Koreans from Chinese but even then it's a hit or miss.

samaruf said:

......
On a side note, we can't always distinguish Orientals so the common terminology among Bangladeshis is Chinku even if they are Vietnamese, Korean or Japanese. I can kinda distinguish Koreans from Chinese but even then it's a hit or miss.

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Similarly, most (native born) Americans generalize the Chinese as Asians, as if Chinese are the only Asians.

When it comes to issues like nationalism, patriotism, I'm with King Nothing. I don't have any patience for such vacuous hyperbole. Patriotism is nothing but an egotistical notion. To quote Emma Goldman:

What, then, is patriotism? "Patriotism, sir, is the last resort of scoundrels," said Dr. [Samuel] Johnson. Leo Tolstoy, the greatest anti-patriot of our time, defines patriotism as the principle that will justify the training of wholesale murderers; a trade that requires better equipment in the exercise of man-killing than the making of such necessities as shoes, clothing, and houses; a trade that guarantees better returns and greater glory than that of the honest workingman...

Indeed, conceit, arrogance and egotism are the essentials of patriotism. Let me illustrate. Patriotism assumes that our globe is divided into little spots, each one surrounded by an iron gate. Those who have had the fortune of being born on some particular spot consider themselves nobler, better, grander, more intelligent than those living beings inhabiting any other spot. It is, therefore, the duty of everyone living on that chosen spot to fight, kill and die in the attempt to impose his superiority upon all the others. The inhabitants of the other spots reason in like manner, of course, with the result that from early infancy the mind of the child is provided with blood-curdling stories about the Germans, the French, the Italians, Russians, etc. When the child has reached manhood he is thoroughly saturated with the belief that he is chosen by the Lord himself to defend his country against the attack or invasion of any foreigner.

TIslam said:

Similarly, most (native born) Americans generalize the Chinese as Asians, as if Chinese are the only Asians.

When it comes to issues like nationalism, patriotism, I'm with King Nothing. I don't have any patience for such vacuous hyperbole. Patriotism is nothing but an egotistical notion. To quote Emma Goldman:

What, then, is patriotism? "Patriotism, sir, is the last resort of scoundrels," said Dr. [Samuel] Johnson. Leo Tolstoy, the greatest anti-patriot of our time, defines patriotism as the principle that will justify the training of wholesale murderers; a trade that requires better equipment in the exercise of man-killing than the making of such necessities as shoes, clothing, and houses; a trade that guarantees better returns and greater glory than that of the honest workingman...

Indeed, conceit, arrogance and egotism are the essentials of patriotism. Let me illustrate. Patriotism assumes that our globe is divided into little spots, each one surrounded by an iron gate. Those who have had the fortune of being born on some particular spot consider themselves nobler, better, grander, more intelligent than those living beings inhabiting any other spot. It is, therefore, the duty of everyone living on that chosen spot to fight, kill and die in the attempt to impose his superiority upon all the others. The inhabitants of the other spots reason in like manner, of course, with the result that from early infancy the mind of the child is provided with blood-curdling stories about the Germans, the French, the Italians, Russians, etc. When the child has reached manhood he is thoroughly saturated with the belief that he is chosen by the Lord himself to defend his country against the attack or invasion of any foreigner.

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That's why Islam bans nationalism, there are no such boundaries to be a true muslim.

First of all I am against the term Bangladeshi.

For the love of God, Bangladesh = Country of the Bengalis or Land of the Bengalis.

What do you call people of France or Germany?

And for the Miniscule of the population that is non Bengali they can have the hyphenated version.

To answer your question Bangladesh and Pakistan have been parts of India for thousands of years our separation is not even a hundred years old. Hindustan or Bharat comprises of Modern day Bangladesh, India and Pakistan.

HaqueF said:

That's why Islam bans nationalism, there are no such boundaries to be a true muslim.

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How abt "there are no such boundaries to be a true human being". Emma Goldman was not a muslim.

HaqueF said:

That's why Islam bans nationalism, there are no such boundaries to be a true muslim.

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And yet there are Islamic republics (Pakistan /Iran), also there are legitimate demands inside the Muslim world for an independent Palestinian state..... Hypocrisy much...

The point being that love(patriotism) itself is an abstract concept. Almost everyone loves the land they are born into, that is one of the many human aspects...

^^ Almost everyone supports a Palestinian state unless they are a right-winger.

King Nothing said:

^^ Almost everyone supports a Palestinian state unless they are a right-winger.

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hence I used the term "Legitimate" demand...

Because growing up in the public school system, half of the kids couldn't even England on a map, let alone Bangladesh. It was just easier to tell them, 'you know India...we're the little country next to it.'

But thankfully those days are long gone (The ME doesn't count, don't care what the arabs call us - their oil will run out one day, and they'll be back to living in tents or blowing each other up in even greater numbers) - in the west, people now recognize Bangladesh (for the good and bad).

Ananta_Jalil said:

Because growing up in the public school system, half of the kids couldn't even England on a map, let alone Bangladesh. It was just easier to tell them, 'you know India...we're the little country next to it.'

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Thats prolly in America.

On the other hand Bangladeshis in UK coin their curry houses as Indian

Ananta_Jalil said:

Because growing up in the public school system, half of the kids couldn't even England on a map, let alone Bangladesh. It was just easier to tell them, 'you know India...we're the little country next to it.' ....

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King Nothing said:

Thats prolly in America.

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That's an old cliche no longer applicable. Even elementary school kids learn a lot about world geography these days than they used to.

kotheenbangla said:

On the other hand Bangladeshis in UK coin their curry houses as Indian

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Its what sells I guess.

kotheenbangla said:

On the other hand Bangladeshis in UK coin their curry houses as Indian

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King Nothing said:

Its what sells I guess.

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As a business person, who would want to take a chance?

TIslam said:

Similarly, most (native born) Americans generalize the Chinese as Asians, as if Chinese are the only Asians.

When it comes to issues like nationalism, patriotism, I'm with King Nothing. I don't have any patience for such vacuous hyperbole. Patriotism is nothing but an egotistical notion. To quote Emma Goldman:
[/I]

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This is all good as long as the generalization is consistent across both positive and negative stereotypes. But unfortunately my experience is, the few things Bangladeshis are doing well, like the curry houses/ restaurants in UK, the credit is given to "Indian cuisine"... but when it comes to poverty, lack of education among Asian communities, Bangladeshis are specifically pointed out, at that time no one lumps us with Indians.

nayeem007 said:

This is all good as long as the generalization is consistent across both positive and negative stereotypes. But unfortunately my experience is, the few things Bangladeshis are doing well, like the curry houses/ restaurants in UK, the credit is given to "Indian cuisine"... but when it comes to poverty, lack of education among Asian communities, Bangladeshis are specifically pointed out, at that time no one lumps us with Indians.

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Because the restaurants are Branded as such! The Branding of East Pakistan and subsequently has been that of a poverty-stricken region. Nobody has done anything to promote a positive image of the country.

Bengalis from our country have been pushing this poverty stricken image as it helps us to get a lot of aid. After partition Pakistan feel into the hands of a group of people whos rise to the elite was via ass kissing and who dodged the people under the pretense of religion. Hence you have all the problems of today.

Not like India is doing faring much better!

In order to change our image we must first change ourselves and lead by example.

nayeem007 said:

This is all good as long as the generalization is consistent across both positive and negative stereotypes. But unfortunately my experience is, the few things Bangladeshis are doing well, like the curry houses/ restaurants in UK, the credit is given to "Indian cuisine"... but when it comes to poverty, lack of education among Asian communities, Bangladeshis are specifically pointed out, at that time no one lumps us with Indians.

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That is how it goes in the world of food and restaurant business. The mom and pop curry houses owned/operated by Bangladeshis (primarily from Sylhet) that are dotted across UK, are below the media radar. Only large establishments headed by trained/professional chefs get reviewed and picked up by the news and entertainment media. Most of the swanky Indian restaurants in up market cities are either owned by Indians (origin) or managed by Indian (origin) chefs. Never mind that the line cooks may be from Bangladesh. The same holds for all other ethic cuisine.

In my neighborhood, I believe, we have one the best Thai restaurant across the US, since I always like to try Thai whenever I'm in a city I haven't been. It is tucked away in a busy shopping center. Nobody knows the name of the chef but its a family run business.

Restaurant Billed As Bangladeshi Restaurant In UK

It appears that some Bangladeshi restaurant owners are overcoming their identity crisis and advertising themselves as Bangladeshi restaurant instead of the standard label of Indian restaurant:

Kolapata

TIslam said:

It appears that some Bangladeshi restaurant owners are overcoming their identity crisis and advertising themselves as Bangladeshi restaurant instead of the standard label of Indian restaurant:

Kolapata

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Looks very nice and the prices are very reasonable when I converted to USD. Hopefully it will start a trend to designate Bangladeshi restaurants as such.